Russia & Russian Culture Posters & Prints, pg 1 of 2
for the social studies, georgraphy and history classroom, home schoolers, theme decor.

Moscow is the capital and the most populous city in Russia as well the most populous city on the continent of Europe and the seventh largest city proper in the world.

The first mention of Moscow dates to 1147 and the first wall was built c. 1156. The city has been sacked and burned by the Mongols/Tartars, suffered plague epidemics, been burned by its citizens in the face of Napoleon's invasion, and held at seige in World War II.

The name Moscow is from the name of the river, the Moskva, - the name of the river has Baltic-Finnic (a language family) roots and means “a place for washing.”

Saint Petersburg, Russia, is located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea.

Saint Petersburg was founded by Tsar Peter I of Russia on May 27, 1703, and was the capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years. Thousands of conscripted peasants from all over Russia died in building the city.

During World War II, from September 1941 to January 1944, Leningrad was devastated by one of the longest and most destructive sieges (Nazi Germany) in history, and one of the most costly in terms of casualties.

The city has been know by other, more “Russianized” names: Petrograd (Peter's City), and Leningrad (Lenin's City).

Notable people associated with Saint Petersburg: George Balanchine, Irina Baronova, Alexandra Kollontai, Vladimir Nabokov, Ivan Pavlov, Anna Pavlova, Ayn Rand, Ida Rubinstein, Dmitry Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Lou Andreas-Salomé.

The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed, is considered the national river of Russia. It rises between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and flowing eastward carves a wide half circle through central Russia before bending toward the Don (“the big bend” where Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, is located) and on to the Caspian Sea.

The fertile Volga river valley is an important farming area, producing large quantities of wheat, and also has many rich mineral deposits.

The Song of the Volga Boatmen is a traditional Russian folk song sung by the burlaks, or barge haulers, who needed to work in rhythm to pull the loaded barges along the river.

The wetlands formed where the Volga flows into the Caspian Sea is the fishing grounds for beluga sturgeon, the source of beluga caviar.

• more European rivers posters

The Don River flows from near Moscow to the Sea of Azov, 1200 miles to the south. In antiquity, the river was viewed as the border between Europe and Asia by some ancient Greek geographers.

Nobel Laureate Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov features the Don River in his works.

The Dnieper River flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, to the Black Sea.

It is an important navigable waterway with a history going back to the Amber Road trade route; it is also a source of hydroelectric power.

The Dnieper flows through Kiev.

The Lena is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean (Ob River and the Yenisei River). The Lena is the 11th longest river in the world and has the 9th largest watershed.

The Lena delta is frozen tundra for about 7 months of the year, the spring thaw in May transforms the region into a lush wetland for a few months.

Yenisei (also Yenisey)-Angara is the largest of three Siberian river systems flowing into the Arctic (the Ob in western Siberia and the Lena in eastern Siberia). Lake Baikal is part of the Angara branch.

The middle section of the Yenisei is controlled by a series of dams that were built by Soviet gulag labor.

Russia's Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake by volume (it contains 20% of the world's fresh surface water, as much as the N.A. Great Lakes combined), and the world's oldest lake, is a World Heritage Site.

Baikal is an example of a “rift” lake, a place where tectonic activity created the depression that allowed water accumulated.

Tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. In tundra, the vegetation is composed of dwarf shrubs, sedges and grasses, mosses, and lichens.

Taiga is a coniferous forest eco region similar to tundra.

The Kamchatka Peninsula, in the Russian Far East between the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk, is made up of many sizable volcanoes - Kamen, Klychevskoy, Koryaksky, Krashnninnikov, Kronotski.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Mount Elbrus, a dormant stratovolcano at 18,510 ft/5,642 m, is the highest mountain in Europe, if the border between Europe and Asia is considered to be at the watershed divide of the Caucasus. The Caucasus Mountains are between the Black and the Caspian Seas in the Caucasus region of Eurasia (the area between the Black and Carspian seas can be considered an isthmus). Elbrus is located in Russia, near the border with Georgia.

Continent of Asia
Poster Text:
PHYSICAL FEATURES/CLIMATE
Asia is a huge continent with an incredible variety of climates and land features, ranging from tropical jungles to the frozen Arctic.